September 26th, 1943 (SUNDAY)
FRANCE: The Free French forces capture the Ghisonaccia Airfield on Corsica.
The US Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 103 against targets in France with the loss of 1 B-17.
(1) 40 B-17s hit Champagne Airfield at Reims at 1751-1752 hours.
(2) 55 B-17s dispatched to the Paris area abandon the mission after crossing the enemy coast.
(3) 63 B-17s dispatched to Meulon Les Mureaux and Citroen in the Paris area are prevented from bombing by the weather.
(4) 37 B-24 Liberators fly a diversion.
72 B-26B Marauders of the US Eighth Air Force's VIII Air Support Command are dispatched to Conches Airfield during Mission 72; they are recalled due to weather.
GERMANY: Roman Catholic bishops denounce the Nazi policy of euthanasia for the mentally and terminally ill, officially stopped in 1941.
During the night of 26/27 September, RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos bombed three targets: four aircraft hit a blast furnace at Duisburg , four bomb Hamborn , three bomb Cologne and three bomb Aachen. The Mosquitos attacking Aachen are carrying out the first trials of Mark II Oboe but the equipment fails and bombs are released visually or on dead reckoning. There are no losses.
U-771 launched.
U.S.S.R.: Soviet troops penetrate the suburbs of Kiev.
A decision is made to withdraw Spanish Blue Division from Eastern front (Glenn Stenberg)
ITALY: The British X Corps meets no resistance due to German withdrawals. The demolitions and booby traps prove to be plenty of resistance. Advance units from the US XIII Corps 8th Army enter Canosa on the Ofanto River.
The 15th Army Group is directed by General Dwight Eisenhower
to secure air bases in Rome area.
The U.S. Fifth Army's British 10 Corps continues its efforts to break out
into the Neapolitan plain; enemy positions are beginning to weaken under its
blows. To reinforce the west flank, the U.S. 82d Airborne Division is
transferred to Maiori by sea and, under 10 Corps control, takes command of the
Rangers. VI Corps is handicapped by autumn rains as well as demolitions, but the
45th Infantry Division takes Teora and the junction of Highways 7 and 91.
In the British Eighth Army area, 13 Corps patrols reach Canosa.
The 1,432 men of the US 100th battalion enter combat.
In the air, USAAF Twelfth Air Force fighters, and light and medium bombers patrol the battle zone, escort convoys, carry out bombing and strafing sweeps against motor transport in the Benevento-Melfi area and north of Foggia, bomb the Pomigliano landing ground, and hit the town of Sarno and military concentrations to the north. Bad weather prevents heavy bomber missions.
GREECE: The Italian garrison on the island of Corfu surrenders to a German force that has recently landed there.
German Ju-88 bombers sank destroyers HMS Intrepid (D 10) and HS Vasilissa Olga in Leros, Dodecanese.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: At 0800 hrs U-223 successfully managed to break through the Straits of Gibraltar and into the Mediterranean. Her run had started the evening before at 2200hrs.
SINGAPORE: OPERATION JAYWICK, six members of the SOA (Special Operations Australia) Unit operating from the former fishing vessel Krait in three canoes, attach limpet mines to seven Japanese ships in Singapore Harbour. The six men then retire safely.
NEW GUINEA: B-24s bomb But and Dagua Airfields; P-38s claim 9 enemy fighters shot down in the But-Dagua-Wewak areas; other B-24s hit Nubia and Potsdam Plantations.
The Japanese
counterattacks around Finschhafen are beaten off handily by the Australian
defenders. The Japanese try in vain to destroy the Australian beachhead in the
Finschhafen area but the 20th Brigade repels their attacks. Two companies of the
Australian 2/17th Battalion moving towards Sattelberg in the hills 6 miles (10
kilometres) northwest of Finschhafen, stop the advance of Japanese
reinforcements heading for the town.
In the air, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24s bomb But and Dagua Airfields; P-38s
claim 9 enemy fighters shot down in the But-Dagua-Wewak areas; other B-24s hit
Nubia and Potsdam Plantations. The attack on Wewak claims 64 Japanese aircraft
destroyed and six ships sunk.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Bougainville Island 21 US Thirteenth Air Force B-24s, covered by 14 P-38s, bomb a bivouac near Kahili Airfield; 30 P-40s and P-39Airacobra and 15 USMC F4U Corsairs support 50+ USN SBD Dauntlesses in a strike on the hangar area of the airfield at Kahili and gun positions at Kangu Hill and Jakohina.
PITCAIRN ISLAND: Submarine USS Crevalle made an unscheduled six hour stop on 26 September 1943 at Pitcairn Island of the Mutiny On The Bounty fame. The unexpected stop was for correction of some minor difficulties with the hydraulic system. According to the natives of the island this was the first submarine that the Pitcairn People had seen and they were very excited about observing Crevalle. The Chief of the Island a Mr. Christian, (a direct descendant of Fletcher Christian the leader of the famous British Navy mutiny) and his court were given a guided tour of the submersible. Gifts were exchanged between the Island inhabitants and the Crevalle crew.
U.S.A.: Glen Borens' diary: USS BUNKER HILL moored main dock, N.A.S. San Diego, Calif.
She had just finished her shake-down cruise and with Air Group 17, had qualified all Pilots.
They told me she was a tight fit in the Panama Canal.
We, ( VF-18 ) were told to board the carrier for transport to Pearl Harbor for further training.
We were 45 percent through our training program. Things got a little tight with an additional 36 fighters aboard. IIRC, a lot of Marines were also loaded FFT to Pearl.
More fun,
Glen
[Having been raised within 10 miles of Fort Riley,Ks., I dodn't want to go into the Army so I joined the Navy in Oct. '42. After a short 'boot camp' at Great Lakes, I was sent to Aircraft maint.school at Millington Tenn., After 3 or 4 months of that was 2 weeks of school on airborne radar operation and then to Pensacola for Aerial Free gunnery training. Finishing that, I was put on a train for Alameda,Ca..
VF 18 formed at Alameda in July 1943 where I joined, We trained there for a short time and worked our way to North Island at San Diego, by way of outlying fields. We had left the rest of Air Group 18 behind. The USS Bunker Hill with Air Group 17 complete, finished her shakedown and headed through the Canal, arriving at San Diego on 26 Sept. '43 as I remember.]
Destroyer escort USS Paul G Baker laid down.
Destroyer escort USS Cannon commissioned.
Minesweeper USS Improve launched.
Submarine USS Guitarro launched.
Destroyer escorts USS Bright and England launched.
BRAZIL: US forces start using Natal port.
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-161 sank SS Cisne Branco and
SS Itapagé.
U-410 sank SS Christian
Michelsen in Convoy UGS-17.